PROJECT STORY · COLLEGE STREET, TORONTO
Condo Painting on College Street, Toronto
The owners went away on vacation and returned to a freshly finished home. Over four and a half days, we repainted this furnished College Street condo, repaired damaged surfaces, restored its entrance door and replaced troublesome cabinet kickboards. Most of the colours stayed the same; the difference was in the finish and the details.
- Location
- College Street, downtown Toronto
- Scope
- Ceilings, walls, doors, baseboards and trim painted
- Preparation
- Surface repairs and dust-extracted sanding
- Additional work
- Entrance-door restoration, replacement wood kickboards and bathroom recaulking
- Paint
- Benjamin Moore Eco Spec
- Work arrangement
- Furnished condo; owners away on vacation
- Duration
- Four and a half days
- Customer feedback
- Five-star Google review from Greg Baxter
- PLANNING AN INTERIOR PAINTING PROJECT?
A refresh, not a reinvention
The owners were not looking for a different-looking home. They wanted the condo they already enjoyed to feel freshly finished again.
Most of the existing colours stayed. We painted the ceilings, walls, doors, baseboards and trim, with a few changes to bring individual details into line with the rooms around them.
The air-conditioning grille was painted to match the wall. The entrance door received a much more involved restoration. In the kitchen and bathrooms, loose aluminum kickboards would be replaced rather than put back as they were.
The owners’ vacation gave us a window to complete the work while they were away.
Getting everything in from College Street
The building had no loading dock, so bringing in the materials and equipment took some planning.
We unloaded from College Street, carried what was needed into the condo and then moved the vehicle to a parking lot farther away. There was no convenient loading area to return to throughout the day.
Once inside, we protected the furniture and surrounding finishes and organized the work within the available space. Even the trim cutting was done on site, with vacuum extraction and an enclosed cutting area.
The preparation came before the colour
Keeping the same colours did not mean painting straight over the existing surfaces.
We filled and sanded throughout the condo before the finish coats went on. The closets needed particular attention, with damaged walls that had to be repaired rather than hidden behind their contents.
For the wall sanding, we used a Festool PLANEX connected to dust extraction. Its light helped reveal imperfections that were harder to see under the room lighting, so we could address them before painting.
The sanding dust was collected at the tool as we worked. That allowed the preparation to be thorough without treating the furnished condo as an unprotected workshop.
A smooth entrance door, without replacing it
The entrance door had a black finish over a pronounced wood texture. A fresh coat of paint alone would have left that texture just as visible.
We filled, sanded and primed the surface in repeated stages, returning to the remaining uneven areas until the door was smooth.
The final colour coordinated with the walls. It was the existing door, but with a very different surface—one that looked freshly finished rather than simply painted over.
The other doors and trim were painted as part of the same refresh.
Replacing the kickboards that would not stay put
The aluminum kickboards beneath the kitchen cabinetry, island and bathroom cabinetry had become an everyday nuisance. They rattled and were prone to coming loose.
We replaced them with wood trim matched to the baseboards elsewhere in the condo. The cabinets stayed; the troublesome pieces at their base changed.
Cutting and fitting that trim on site allowed us to work around the existing cabinetry. With extraction and an enclosed cutting area, the carpentry could be completed without spreading the cutting work through the rest of the home.
The finished edges now belonged with the condo’s other painted trim.
Renewing the bathroom edges
The bathrooms needed more than fresh wall paint.
We removed and replaced the old caulking around the bathtub, sinks and vanities, completing the edges around the fixtures that were staying.
Together with the new kickboards and painted surfaces, those smaller repairs refreshed the bathrooms without turning the job into a bathroom replacement.
Low-odour paint for the repaint
We used Benjamin Moore Eco Spec for the painting work. Benjamin Moore describes it as a zero-VOC, low-odour paint with good touch-up performance. It is also Certified Asthma & Allergy Friendly and Green Seal certified.
The product was part of the finish, not a substitute for preparation. The filling, sanding and door restoration were what gave the paint a properly prepared surface to cover.
Coming home to the finished job
The work took four and a half days.
When the owners returned from vacation, the rooms still had their familiar colours and furnishings. What had changed were the surfaces and the details: repaired walls, freshly painted ceilings and trim, a smooth entrance door, renewed bathroom caulking and replacement kickboards that matched the rest of the condo.
Greg’s review described both the painting and the care taken around the home. Cleanliness was not a separate extra at the end—it was part of how the work had been carried out.
FINISHED PROJECT
The completed renovation
Planning answers
What homeowners can learn from this project
Can you paint a furnished condo while the owners are away?
That was the arrangement for this project. The owners went on vacation, and we protected the furnished interior while completing the painting and related repairs. They returned to the refreshed condo after four and a half days of work.
Does repainting in the same colours still require preparation?
Yes. We filled and sanded the surfaces before painting, with extra repairs inside the closets and extensive preparation of the entrance door. Keeping the colour does not remove the need to correct the surface beneath it.
Was the textured entrance door replaced?
No. We kept the door and worked through repeated filling, sanding and priming to produce a smooth surface before painting it to coordinate with the walls.
What replaced the aluminum kickboards?
We fitted matching wood trim beneath the kitchen cabinetry, island and bathroom cabinetry. It coordinated with the existing baseboards, which were painted as part of the refresh.
Was the bathroom work a renovation or a refresh?
It was a refresh. The existing fixtures remained. We renewed the caulking around the bathtub, sinks and vanities, replaced the relevant kickboards and repainted the surfaces included in the project.
What paint was used?
We used Benjamin Moore Eco Spec. Benjamin Moore identifies it as a zero-VOC, low-odour paint with good touch-up performance and Asthma & Allergy Friendly and Green Seal certifications.
What Greg said after the work
My wife and I used the services to paint our entire condo, including the ceilings, walls and baseboards. In addition, they installed new kick boards under our kitchen island, counters and in the bathrooms.
The quality of the painting was excellent, but what really stood out was how clean they kept everything. Their dust control was outstanding, and they left our condo spotless at the end of the job. We truly appreciated the care they took to protect our home throughout the entire project.
We highly recommend Strataline and will not hesitate to use their services again.
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Planning a condo painting refresh?
Send us photographs of your rooms, doors and any damaged trim. Tell us about building access and your preferred dates, and we’ll review the painting and related repairs as one scope.